Living Among The Dead
by EmilyAnn003
Summary: Things get bad in Macon, Georgia when an outbreak of flesh-eating monsters roam the street and my entire family gets killed. Just as I prepare myself to survive on my own, I stumble upon a strange group of people who, for the most part, seem willing to help me. Shameless self-insert fic, read before you judge! xx
1. Prologue

_Hey guys! I'm back with another story, but this time it's of The Walking Dead! Yes, it's a self-insert fic (don't be mad), and it's based on the game, not the show._

_Now I know most of you guys were expecting this to be my new Resident Evil fic, but honestly I have no idea how to start it! But I can promise you I'll get it up as soon as I can! _

_Well, I hope you all like this story, and I'll see you next time! _

Living Among the Dead: Prologue

My breath labored into hard, shallow gasps as I tore my way through thick patches of briar in the dark, endless maze of wood. I didn't dare so much as glance backwards in fear that they would be right behind me, with half-meatless limbs outstretched and ready to feast on my raw flesh. I'd seen this stuff in movies: rotting corpses rising from their graves to gnaw on the living. But nobody could have predicted this.

When I finally reached a clearing, which was just a field fifty feet in diameter with dry, itchy grass that just barely tickled your knees, I halted immediately and caught my breath. They were no doubt still after me, but I'd put at least two football fields between us. At least that's what I thought.

At the sound of the smallest twig being snapped, I turned around faster than I thought was humanly possible and widened my eyes at the sight in front of me. There were at least eight of them, and they were all slowly making their way toward me, the hunger evident in their lifeless eyes.

That was when I heard the gunshot. It was loud and came from about two hundred meters east of where I was standing. I instantly froze, as if I was staring into the eyes of a twenty foot tall reptile, and watched as the merciless carnivores began limping away towards the source of the gunshot. For the first time in what felt like years, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps I should explain myself, so I guess I'll start the way most people do: My name's Emily. I'm fifteen years old, and I've lived in Macon, Georgia my whole life with my mom, dad, and two older sisters. But they were all dead now.

I was in my room when the outbreak started, casually reading a book under the light of my desk lamp when I heard my mother's blood curdling scream. Practically throwing my book across the room (sorry, Harry), I rushed outside, grabbing my phone on the way out, already dialing nine-one-one. I didn't know what if I was expecting burglars, or if my mother had simply witnessed a random act of street violence… but my eyes weren't ready for what I was about to see.

One of my long-time neighbors, Jeff Baker, was holding my limp mother in his claws and was tearing into her flesh like she was a turkey and it was Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't know what to do, he was chewing straight through her neck, and blood was gushing out of her like I'd never seen; there was no way she was still alive. Without thinking, I reached down, picked up my father's conveniently placed pitching wedge and began beating his head in until he stopped moving and my clothes and shoes were soaked in blood.

After that, I dropped to my knees, and wailed over the loss of my mother. A few seconds later, my father and two sisters ran outside, too, and they all stared at the sight in disbelief until a deep groaning sound emitted from the corpse.

"M-mom?" I weakly called out, my voice hoarse.

Then my father rushed over and pushed me out of the way, examining his dead wife. That was when she came back to life and pounced on my father, sinking her teeth into his face. After that, it seemed as though they were everywhere. I ran back inside and grabbed anything I needed, because by then my sisters were dead too, and the entire street was full of those monsters. I threw anything I could find in my backpack, (which was just three water bottles, a granola bar, a first aid kit) and grabbed the biggest hammer in the garage and ran out of the door.

That's how I ended up here. Alone, and running for my life.


	2. Stranger Danger?

_Hey guys! Here's the first chapter of my new story! I already have most of chapter 2 written and I was going to wait until I finished it, but my internet has been acting up, and since I don't know when the next time I'll be able to, I just decided to post it tonight! Well, enjoy! And please tell me what you think! xx_

I was never a fast runner. When I was a kid, I was it most of the times we played tag, and when we played hide and seek I could never make it to whatever was pronounced as 'base' during that game. I could never outrun whoever was chasing me, but I guess it's different when you're running for your life. I had reached the edge of town a few hours ago, and had been running through seemingly endless fields of grass until I laid my eyes upon an old gravel road that I was now sprinting down.

Did I have any idea where I was going? No. Did I care? Not really. Seeing a road like this out in the middle of nowhere had ignited a spark of hope somewhere in me, and I didn't care if I had to give a limb—although I'd rather it be an arm than a leg if it came down to it—but if there was a chance I could find people, and I mean _real_ people, I was going to see where this thing went. Pausing to catch my breath, I looked behind me and noticed that whatever had been chasing me was gone so I took out a bottle of water that had now gone warm and began drinking it. That was when I saw the headlights.

They came from behind me, the way I had just come from, and it looked like an old, dirty red pickup truck. As far as I knew, the reanimated corpses had no knowledge of how to drive a car, so I was immediately filled with a rush of relief. My heart beat wildly in my chest, partly from sprinting for so long without break, and partly because the truck was now slowing to a stop next to me. It was dark, but I could just barely make out the faces of an nearly middle aged black man in the passenger seat, he was closest to me, a young girl (maybe Hispanic?) sitting in the middle, and a younger man, only looking a few years older than me, driving. There was also a larger man in the bed of the truck who looked a few years older than the driver. Not seeing any skin rotting off their bones, I quickly walked up to the vehicle.

"Do you need help?" The older man shouted over the roar of the engine. It sounded as if it'd been running for decades.

Before I could speak, the driver beat me to it. "We're heading back to my dad's farm," he said, then once he took a closer look at me he added, "Man, you don't look so good. Come on, hop in the back with Chet. I'll take you down to my dad's place with us. We can do the introductions there."

Every kid I've ever known was raised up to say no to strange men pulling up beside you in an old truck. Well… I guess I should have listened to my parents more often.

"Thank you!" I nearly shouted, overwhelmingly grateful for the chance to rest my legs, even if only for a second.

They waited until I was sitting safely to begin driving again, and I introduced myself to the man sitting across from me.

"Hi," I said almost shyly. "Chet was it?" I asked, getting a nod in return. "My name's Emily."

"Nice to meet you, Emily." He said with an accent, making me smile.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them. "Do… do you know how this happened?"

For a moment he looked saddened, but quickly shook his head. "No idea. Me and Shawn were just drivin' through town when we ran into 'em." Sighing, he shook his head again. "I hope all o' this is over soon. Mama's not gonna be too happy when she finds out…"

I simply nodded, not knowing what to say. How could I tell a random stranger that my parents were dead? Not to mention both of my sisters, also. Shaking my head, I forced those thoughts away. If I thought about them now, I knew I would begin sobbing again and that would be mortifying in front of these people. I just hoped they would let me stay long enough to get a decent meal. It was only my first day in, and I was already beginning to grow tired of granola bars. And I only had about one left.

We began slowing down as we pulled into a makeshift driveway in front of an old, white, wooden house that appeared as if it were ready to crumble from years of service. After the driver, who I assumed was the one named Shawn, shut off the engine, Chet and I hopped out of the truck.

"Hey, Shawn… I'm a' run on home," he said, stretching his limbs. "Mama's gonna be in a snit."

"No sweat man, I'll catch you tomorrow night," the driver replied. So he _was_ Shawn.

"It was nice to meet you all," Chet said, referring to me, the older man, and the little girl.

As Chet walked away, the girl grabbed onto the man's hand. Was she his daughter?

Before I could process any other thoughts, a man in around his sixties walked out of the door to say "Thank god you're okay."

"I was worried it'd be bad here, too." Shawn said, hugging the man, so I assumed they were father and son.

"Been quiet as usual the past couple days," the old man said. "Ol' Breckon down the way thinks his mare's gone lame, but that ain't nothin' new."

"I wouldn't have made it back without Chet."

"Well I'm glad you took him with you, then," he said, then turned to the three of us. "You brought a couple guests!"

Shawn looked at us, as if remembering we were there. "Oh yeah, dad, this is Lee. Him and Clementine helped us get out of town back there. And this is…" he paused, looking at me. "Oh yeah, we never learned your name."

"It's Emily." I said, nervously scratching the back of my head.

"This is Emily," he repeated as though his father didn't hear. "We drove by when she was just wandering down the road all alone. We couldn't just _not_ help, you know?"

"T-thanks again, by the way… If you guys hadn't found me I'd probably be a goner by now," I said, smiling at Shawn and the old man.

"Yeah, us too," Lee added. "Your boy's a life saver." I nodded in agreement.

"Glad he could be a help to somebody," the man replied, and I honestly couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not. Looking down at Lee's leg, he noticed a gash right above his knee. That was the first time I'd seen it, too, and my eyes grew wide. "Looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there," he said, but I wasn't so calm about it.

"Oh my god, are you alright?" I asked, wondering how on earth he was still standing.

"Well," he said taking in a breath. "It's not doing so good."

"I can help you out," the man said, then turned to Shawn. "Shawn, run on in and check on your sister. You," he said, pointing to Lee. "Take a seat on the porch and I'll see what I have."

Lee and the older man, who I still don't know the name of, walked up to the porch, but the little girl (I think her name was Clementine?) hesitantly stayed behind.

She looked up at me. "Are you parents gone, too?" She asked in a weak voice.

I looked down at her, shocked and confused. "Huh?" was all I seemed to manage.

"My parents are in Savannah. They left me with a babysitter, but she turned into a monster and Lee killed it. Where are your parents?"

I was stunned. This little girl sure was something else. "U-um…" I didn't want to think about them, not now. That was when I noticed Shawn coming back out of the house. "W-why don't we go see how Lee's doing?"

"Okay," she said, but I had a feeling she wasn't going to drop it.

When we walked up to the porch, Shawn was talking to his dad about what's been happening when he looked at Lee. "Lee, come on, tell him what you saw out there!" Then he noticed Clementine and I standing there and put me on the spot. "What about you, Emily? You had to have seen something!"

"Y-yeah… there were dead people… coming back alive to eat the living. They were everywhere…"

"Well do what you think you should," the man said. "We've got plenty of chores as it is."

"Everyone can help out in the morning. We gotta do it, really."

"I already said _okay_."

When Shawn's dad (I should _really_ learn his name) turned back to Lee to talk to him about his injured leg, Shawn looked over at me. "Can I get you anything?" he asked. "Something to drink?"

"I-I don't want to intrude…" I said, even though I was dying to have something cold to drink. Anything other than warm water or a granola bar.

"Nah, come on. You looked exhausted when we picked you up."

I walked up and was about to enter the doorway when he turned to Clementine. "What about you, sweetie? You want anything?" I couldn't help but smile at how well he spoke to her, and then I remembered his dad saying something about a sister. Maybe she was around Clementine's age?

She thought for a moment before widening her eyes and smiling. "Do you have any apples?" She asked with excitement.

He smiled back at her. "We sure do. I'll be back with the biggest one here in a minute, okay?"

Her grin spread across all the way across her face as Shawn and I stepped inside.

The kitchen was to an almost immediate right, just past the dining area, and I noticed how old-fashioned and, well… _home _-y everything looked.

"So what would you like?" he asked, his head in the fridge. "We have apples, oranges, bananas, corn—oh man, we have _tons_ of corn…"

I laughed shortly before answering. "I'll just have an apple—oh, and do you have anything to drink other than really hot water? All I've been running on today is granola bars and water that feels and tastes like it's been left in the car all day."

It was his turn to laugh, tossing me a bright red apple. "Yeah, sure… here." He took a bottle of water out of the fridge and as soon as my hand touched it, I could feel the cool condensation rubbing away onto my fingers. The second he let go of the bottle, I was unscrewing the cap so fast you'd think I'd been lost in the desert for months, not running across town for ten hours.

"Woah, easy there, girl. Don't wanna drown yourself."

I quickly swallowed a large gulp and blushed. "S-sorry… I've just been running from those things all day."

He chuckled. "I get it, I get it…" he went silent for a moment then turned to me again. "So how old are you?" He asked, and I even though I wasn't _that_ surprised, it was still enough for me to nearly choke on my water. Good going, Em.

"Um fifteen," I answered after a few coughs.

His eyes widened. "Wow, really?"

"Yeah… I'll be sixteen next month, though."

"Wow," he said. "Don't think I'm weird for saying this, but you look a lot older."

I felt my face heat up, but tried not to think about it. "Nah, it's cool. People tell me that all the time. How old are you?"

"Twenty. I'll be twenty- one next March."

"Ah… Well shouldn't we be getting back out there? Clementine probably wants her apple." I said after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Oh, yeah."

Just as I predicted, Clementine was still waiting on the porch when we got back, but Lee and Shawn's dad were over in the barn. After a quick 'Thank you', the young girl ran off to join them.

I turned and looked at the man next to me. "Yeah, thank you. And not just for the apple, for picking me up back there, too. I know I've already said this, but I don't know where I would be right now if you hadn't."

"No problem," he said. "It was the least I could do."

"Well, I guess I'd better get to bed—er, barn…"

Shawn laughed. "Hey, it's not that bad, I've been out there plenty of times," I started to smile, but then he continued. "Just watch out for spiders."

Not being arachnophobic, I laughed. "Will do," I said and headed down to the barn with the others. I got down there just as the older man was walking out.

"I left an extra sleeping bag in there for ya'," he said with a kind smile, which I returned.

"Thanks."

As he began walking away, I quickly turned around, remembering something. "Uh, sir? I just remembered: I didn't catch your name earlier," I said, oblivious to the accent I was picking up on.

"The name's Hershel Greene, miss. Now go on, you're gonna be wakin' up bright and early in the mornin'." And with that, he turned and left.

When I entered the barn, Lee and Clementine were laying down their sleeping bags and I noticed the extra one next to them.

"Here," Lee said and he handed it to me.

"Thanks," I said with a shy smile. "And thanks again for picking me up back there."

"Hey, no problem. I'm just glad to see another living person."

I looked down to see Clementine already fast asleep behind him.

"Is she your daughter?" I asked, noticing how sweet and innocent she looked when she was sleeping. But then again, so did most people.

His eyebrows furrowed as he spoke. "No, I uh, was running away from those things when I ended up at her house. She was hiding up in her treehouse, but I guess the babysitter wasn't so lucky and she uh… you know…"

I nodded. I did know, she had told me something about that earlier.

"Where are her parents?" I asked, trying to remember what she had said about them.

"Savannah, I think," he said. We were almost whispering now. "I heard some messages on her answering machine, but by then I think it was too late…"

"O-oh…" I whispered once it fully dawned on me what he meant. He gave a slight, but grave nod.

"Well, I better get to sleep. You should, too. From what I hear we'll be waking up pretty early in the morning."

He nodded again, looking back down at Clementine. I laid out my blanket to the left of the barn door and turned back around. "Talk to you later."

"Yeah," he said, and we both laid down, but I knew neither of us got any sleep for a while.

Not matter how hard I tried, I couldn't avoid the thought of my parents. When my mom saw Mr. Baker, she probably walked up to have a nice, simple chat with him. Little did she know, all he wanted was a snack.

I turned over to my other side, already feeling the familiar warm salt water trickle down my cheeks. Even though I was happy to have my life, I still desperately hoped I would wake up in my bedroom tomorrow, wondering why I had such a strange dream.


	3. A Not-So Average Day On The Farm

_Hey everyone! Here is the second chapter to my newest story: Living Among The Dead! Thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews and I hope you all keep reading! _

When I first awoke, I have to admit I was a bit confused. I expected to open my eyes and see my messy room, not a bale of hay. I sat up slowly, stretching and rubbing my eyes when suddenly it all came rushing back to me: the scream, the monsters, my family, then Shawn, Lee, Clementine, Hershel Green, and now this barn. I tried my best to hold back a sob, but all I did was muffle it as I covered my mouth with filthy hands.

_Okay, Emily, calm down. Just take a few deep breaths and you'll be alright. You don't want to wake the other people in here._ I told myself, remembering Lee and Clementine behind me. And didn't Hershel say something about another family being here?

I carefully stood up, drying my eyes, and walked over to the halfway open barn door, and peeked outside. The sky was a turned light periwinkle blue as the sun was just beginning to rise. Over in the east it was filled with a pink-ish orange color, but it gradually faded to a light purple, then a blue. It was beautiful, but all it did was bring more tears to my eyes.

Picking up my backpack, I quietly snuck outside and sat against the fence next to the barn In between a few bales of hay. I took out a bottle of water and a granola bar, suddenly realizing just how parched and hungry I was. I sat there for hours, simply watching the sun come up and silently crying some more, thinking about… them. Around nine, or so I guessed, Hershel stepped outside followed by his son. I smiled kindly at him, giving no indication I had been crying all morning, and he turned to his right and went behind the house. Shawn paused, about to follow his father, but once he noticed me he walked up.

"Up already?" He asked and I stood up and stretched.

"Yeah," I said. "Actually, I've been up for quite a while. Now don't get me wrong, I'm beyond thankful for everything, I'm just not quite used to the whole 'waking up in a barn with a bale of hay in my face' thing."

That got a chuckle out of him. "I know what you mean."

Suddenly three other people emerged from the barn and smiled at us. There was an older man, accompanied by whom I assumed were his wife and son. The man and woman appeared to be around their mid-to-late forties while the son looked around Clementine's age.

"Morning," Shawn said with a smile.

"Good morning," the woman said, sounding so motherly it almost brought the tears back into my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away before anyone had noticed.

The other man turned to me. "Hi," he said in a cheery voice, or at least as cheery as one can sound after sleeping in a barn all night. "I'm Kenny. This is my wife Katjaa and my son Duck."

"D-Duck?" I stuttered. "Like the animal?"

This caused the man to laugh. "Yeah, kinda. It's mostly 'cause nothin' bothers him. Like water off a duck's back, y'know?"

I nodded and looked at the boy. He had freckles on his face and dirt in his hair, seeming completely unaffected by the traumatic events that had occurred the past few days.

"Well, I guess it's time to wake them up," Kenny said, and he went inside the barn where Lee and Clementine were still sleeping.

Shawn, Duck and I all walked over to the fence behind the house next to the endless corn fields and Duck immediately hopped onto the tractor. Shawn sat in front of the patch-work barrier and asked me to hold a board in place while he went and got a hammer and a box of nails. I crouched down and did as he asked.

"So what's your story?" He asked once he came back a minute later. Duck had been playing on the tractor in his own little world, completely oblivious to anything we said at the moment.

I blinked a few times and looked at the brunette once again sitting beside me. "W-what?" I asked, attempting to hide my surprise and failing miserably.

"Sorry if it's too personal," he said, picking up a few more nails. "It's just that you were all alone when we found you, and… you looked terrified."

Turning the other direction, I blinked back a few tears, mentally criticizing myself for being such a wimp these past few days. "Yeah, well, things happen." My voice broke mid-sentence and I cleared my throat.

"Look, sorry for asking, it's really none of my business."

"No, it's okay, you should know. I mean after all, you saved my life, right?" I looked over at him and gave a weak smile. When he didn't say anything I began telling him of all the events that occurred up until they found me, speaking softly and keeping my eyes set on the fence in progress. When I was finished Shawn barely had time to respond before Lee walked up and asked if we needed help.

"Actually, do you mind cutting a few of those two-bys to length?" He asked, pointing to a pile of planks and a saw. "It'd save us a lot of time."

Once Lee began sawing the boards in half Shawn spoke again. "My dad doesn't know how bad it is," he said with a sigh.

"No he doesn't," was all Lee said. I simply shook my head.

"Back in Atlanta I saw a guy kill a kid… A boy… Just shot him right in the face."

"Was he… you know…?" I asked.

"I don't even know. He was either attacking the guy or asking for help… He didn't even hesitate. He just turned, put the barrel of the gun right between the kid's eyes and pulled the trigger." He spoke softly, and I noticed the way his brows furrowed as he recalled the disturbing event. "You don't see things like that; it's not like in the movies."

"They don't fall like you'd think," came from the older man.

"So have you had to do it?"

"What?" he replied, sounding either shocked or confused. I couldn't tell.

"Have you had to off one yet?" He repeated more bluntly.

The man's eyes grew dark and he spoke without hesitation. "I bashed a poor girl's brains in," he answered and I assumed he meant the babysitter Clementine told me about.

"Ouch," Shawn grimaced and glanced at me for a moment. If I'm not mistaken, I thought I saw a look of sympathy flash across his eyes before he turned back to Lee. "I don't know if I could do it…"

"Sometimes it's kill or be killed," he replied darkly at the same time I thought it.

"Well I'm just glad we're getting this fence built. Dad just wants to keep this family safe and thinks inviting people in is a bigger threat than whatever's out there." He paused as two more halves of wood fell to the ground. "That's probably all I need cut for now; thanks."

"Is there anything else I can do?"

"I think my dad needs some help in the barn."

"Alright," he began walking away but turned when he got to the freckled boy on the tractor.

"See ya later, Duck," he said and the boy gave a big, goofy smile.

I turned to Shawn. "So…" I started awkwardly. "How's life on the farm?"

He chuckled. "Well, just life, I guess. It's all I've ever known. Same goes for my dad."

"I've always lived in the city." I stated, handing him another nail for the fence. "Not with skyscrapers and all that, just with, like, schools, parks, friendly neighborhoods, things like that; the suburbs I guess."

"Sounds great," he smiled. "The only times I ever go out to the city is with Chet, and it's only for the things we can't make around here."

Suddenly my stomach growled loudly and I blushed, thinking of the granola bars I'd been eating. Seeing the redness in my cheeks, Shawn laughed and stood up, holding out his hand to help me and I accepted his offer.

"Come on," he said with a smile. "Let's go inside and get something to eat."

That was when we heard a Duck scream, and the tractor plowed right into Shawn.

I focused my wide eyes on the boy and that was when I noticed the zombies clawing at him through the fence. More of them showed up quickly, and they began trying to grab Shawn but he couldn't run away.

"Emily!" He shouted desperately. "M-My leg's stuck! Get this thing off me!"

This was the second most terrifying experience in my life and it took me a couple of seconds to realize what he was asking me to do. Dodging the decaying limbs, I grabbed both of Shawn's arms and pulled as hard as I could, only making him scream in pain. That was when Lee showed up, the others running not too far behind.

"What happened?!" He shouted, taking in the whole mess.

"J-just help me get this off of him!" I could hear the panic in my voice and Lee quickly rushed to help, pushing the tractor while I continued pulling him.

I hadn't even noticed Kenny run up and grab his son until Shawn shouted, "Kenny! Help them, please!" Honestly, I had forgotten about Duck.

He stared at us for a second before cowardly backing away, his son in his arms.

"Lee, come _on_, we can do this!" I was practically screaming and my voice was nearly pure panic as I pushed my muscles to their limit.

But by then it was already too late. All of the sudden the zombies busted through the rest of the fence and one started mashing his teeth into Shawn's neck and the other his stomach.

I couldn't take it; the scene was all too familiar. Lee and I backed away four or five feet and my legs gave way just as Hershel arrived with his gun. The explosion of his gun pierced my ears as the old man interrupted the monsters' feast and canceled out my brief sobs. All was quiet after that. Katjaa was standing in front of Duck and Clementine, both looking as if they'd just been scarred for the rest of their lives, Lee was standing to my right, and Kenny behind me and we all just watched as Hershel bent down and began speaking to his nearly deceased son.

"I'm okay, Pop… I'm okay…" His voice sounded so weak, as if it took every ounce of strength in him to pronounce a single syllable. Just hearing his voice produced more tears from my eyes.

"We're gonna fix you up, don't you worry." That wasn't possible anymore.

"It… I-it almost got me… L-Lee and Emily tried to save me." But we failed.

"I…" I watched him as he took his last breath. The way his desperate eyes locked on his father and then gently fluttered closed. His head fell to the ground and his father let go of his son's limp hand and stood up.

"Get out." He spoke softly, sadly, but then grew furious. "Get the _fuck _OUT OF HERE!"

I heard a regretful voice behind me. "I'm sorry…"

"Sorry?!" The old man shouted. It took all I had not to look at Shawn's lifeless body. "Your son's alive; you don't _get_ to be sorry!" He then turned to Lee and I and his expression softened a bit. "Y'all tried to help him, but this piece of shit let him die."

"It's nobody's fault…" Lee said softly, but there was a trace of something in his voice, something I couldn't recognize.

"Like hell it isn't!" But suddenly, Hershel's temper died down and I saw the pain and tears in his eyes as he turned and looked at his son again. "Please… just get out and never come back!"

"You got that ride to Macon if you want it." Kenney said to Lee and everybody, including me, began walking to his truck, but I paused in front of the house.

"You comin'?" Lee asked and I brushed hair out of my face.

"Are you sure it's a good idea? I mean, h-he didn't even _try_ to help us back there… what if something like that happens again?"

"Well I guess we deal with it then, but right now we've got a free ride to Macon and I'm planning on taking it. You can stay behind if you want and go off on your own way, but I know you don't want to be around here when…"

I glanced behind me. Hershel was still crying over his son's body and I cringed thinking about Shawn coming back from the dead and feasting on his father.

"Alright," I sighed and then nodded with more confidence. "Let's go."

It was a long drive to Macon, almost a full day cramped in a pickup truck. Kenny drove with Katjaa in the passenger seat and Duck in the smaller, middle seat. I sat behind Kenny, Lee behind Katjaa and Clem behind Duck. We didn't speak much, but what can you say after something like that?

I still couldn't believe that he was dead. Only a few hours ago were Shawn and I smiling and making small talking with each other. I remembered the warmth of his hand when ever mine brushed his as I handed him a rusty nail for the fence. Needless to say, I bet his hands weren't so warm anymore.

I worried about his father. I understood what he was going through, I really did. When most people say that, in reality they have no idea. How could they unless something like this happened? But I knew; my empathy for him was so real it scared me. But then again, a lot of things did these days. Like the fact that not even two minutes after we all hopped into Kenny's truck, Shawn most likely came back from the dead and made a meal out of his father who I know couldn't bear to shoot him. That's what scared me the most. The fact that even though the ones you loved were up and walking, they were long gone. It wasn't really them in that body, roaming the streets; it was a hungry monster who craved flesh.

Clementine kept looking at me and I'd give her a smile and she'd look away letting me pear back out of the window. Just as I was tempted to lay my head against the window and go to sleep, the truck sputtered to a stop in the middle of a deserted street in a city it pained me to recognize as downtown Macon. It took me days to get away from this place, yet only hours to be dragged back to it. I was back at the root of my worst nightmare.


End file.
